Architecture "Porto made" is awarded in Finland

Mass Lab, a progressive and contemporary design studio from Porto has won another international prize in Helsinki, Finland, for its Housing Project, on 18 April 2019.

Three alumni from the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto have founded the MASS lab in 2014, in Porto, a progressive and contemporary design studio engaged in the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, urban design and comprehensive planning. 

The Studio from Porto has won another international prize in Helsinki, Finland, for its Housing Project themed "Urban nature". Helsinki Municipality purchased the Housing project to the Portuguese Office.

"This project combines a rational formalization of architecture with the aim of maximum delight. It is conceived as a vertical city that emerges from a continuous ground floor where Nature, People and City are in symbiosis. The terraces rise from the ground revealing stunning views of the forest and the sea. Uniting imperatives that once seemed irreconcilable: rationality and interest, repetition and variety, collective and individual expression, informality", as described in the project's abstract.

As a result of the economic slow-down of Portugal, the three graduates had decided to emigrate and had worked in such countries as Brazil, Holland, Denmark and France.

"While working for large companies abroad, we realized that we would be able to settle in Portugal, namely in our home town Porto and still work in the international market", Diogo Rocha, Mass Lab Founding Partner stated to Porto., in a phone interview.

Soon, Mass Lab achieved international recognition through its successes in international tenders, particularly "in Nordic countries, as they are very open to this type of public tender, and investing in the growing qualification of "Porto Made" in the international market", affirmed Diogo Rocha.

The company's portfolio includes projects in Portugal and abroad, from single-family dwellings to urban planning projects: student residences, residential building and urbanisations.

The Porto based studio, which was founded in 2014, is operated by 3 partners: Diogo Rocha, Duarte Fontes and Lourenço Rodrigues. The supporting multidisciplinary design team spans seven nationalities and features a fertile mix of professional and educational backgrounds. The core team is complemented with a strong and growing network of collaborators across Europe.

MASS lab is currently working to realise a diverse and exciting portfolio of projects in Portugal and abroad, especially in Scandinavia that range from public spaces, buildings and masterplans that have resulted from successful competitions, pre-qualifications and direct commissions. In 2016 MASS lab settled a branch in Copenhagen, Denmark.